The biggest court case-.Greece VS the CIA
Tomorrow the biggest court case in all of modern Greek history. Greece VS the CIA!
April 19, 2019
–by John Kountouris for Veterans Today
Τhe judicial investigation concerning the CIA’s destabilization plan of the Greek government (from ’04 to ’09) under Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, with the code name “Pythia I”, which included the attempted assassination of the PM, as well as the tapping of his, his government and senior state officials’ telephones has now reached a critical juncture.
More specifically, this Friday, April 19, 2019, this unprecedented trial shall begin with the Mixed Jury Criminal Court of Athens, Greece accusing the former CIA agent, Greek-American William G. Basil [1] for the aforesaid crimes.
The assessment of judicial circles that have been involved in the case is that the chief investigator, Mr. Dimitris Foukas, who had undertaken the main interrogation on this case, did a very careful and meticulous job on it and, despite the pressure he received to stop his investigation, did not give in and completed it in June of 2015 delivering his findings to the competent Judicial Council, which then issued its indictment in September of 2017.
The correlation by the Greek legal system of the two cases (the telephone tapping and attempted assassination of the PM) and then the personification of the categories is first confirmed by a Russian FSB document sent to the Greek Intelligence Service with the existence of a murder plan against Karamanlis, which was revealed in the Greek publication “Epikaira” in June 2011. It was reinforced when the charges concerned a CIA agent. It is, of course, unlikely that the US government will allow one of their former, top agents to go to Greece. Therefore, he shall be tried in absentia according to the Greek legal system.
According to the Judicial Council, the destabilization plan against the country was “dismantled” by foreign agents in the early 2000s and took place at various stages throughout the past decade, culminating in the December 2008 events in Greece. As has been gradually revealed over time, a central role in espionage actions against Greece was played by foreign intel services, mainly those of the US.
In the findings of the prosecutor D. Dosoulas regarding the the intercepts during the period of 2004-2005, the US had been identified as the perpetrators of the phone taps of the then Greek PM, members of the government and economic players and, since 2010, criminal proceedings have been pending for attempted espionage against any and all persons responsible.
On the other hand, and within the framework of the preliminary investigation into the Karamanlis assassination plan, prosecutor Nikos Ornerakis initiated criminal proceedings against unknown offenders for the offenses of the “preparatory acts of treason,” “disruption of the normal operation of the State” and “deprivation of the Prime Minister from the exercising of the power conferred on him by the Greek Constitution.”
According to the decision, the purpose of the perpetrators, allegedly, was the disruption of the mainly economic overtures between the Hellenic Republic and the Russian Federation, which (during the period of 2004 to 2009) had begun to manifest itself in various sectors, especially in the fields of energy, armaments and government procurements.
According to the same decision, the main evidence emerged from the testimonies of key witnesses like Ioannis Corantis (Ambassador & former Director of Greek intel services), Serafim Tsitsimpis (2nd in command of Greek intel) Konstantinos Angelakis (Head of Espionage Unit of Greek intel) and more.
This case has been extensively covered by both Greek and foreign media. See all the links [2] below for references examples.
Quick summary/recap:
Already in 2004, during the then Greek Olympics in Athens, the CIA and US State Department had targeted Mr. Karamanlis. A high-level CIA agent by the name of William G. Basil (of Greek heritage) was tasked with spying on Karamanlis’ government with other CIA agents in Greece. High-level figures have testified in this case; and it was a high-level Greek court ruling that in 2017 came out with a major decision on this indicting both Greek officials and Mr. William Basil for their involvement in this major scandal/crime which has plagued Greece for years.
Also, it has been WikiLeaks over the years who has revealed much of this. For example, in one of their cables [3] from 2011, they reveal how former US Ambassador to Greece, Charles P. Ries, admits to this underhanded US plan against the Karamanlis government particularly with regards to the wiretapping it did against him.
Needless to say, the CIA and the US government refuse to hand over Mr. Basil to the Greek authorities to be tried.
Please read also “A DEATH IN ATHENS: Did a Rogue NSA Operation Cause the Death of a Greek Telecom Employee?“.
STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES ON THIS CASE!….
John Kountouris is a Greek-American journalist and appears on Greek TV and radio worldwide and, also, writes for a mainstream Greek newspaper (published in Greece), “The Free Hour” (Ελεύθερη Ώρα),.
He personally has interviewed the attorney of a top Greek intel agent who is a key witness in this case, has covered it extensively on my news blog, GreekNewsOnDemand.com, and has written front page articles in a mainstream Greek newspaper on this and on other issues related to this case (with the best sources).
Another example of his work (click here and here) would be his recent front-page article he had published in the Greek paper “The Free Hour” regarding an interview he did with international law professor Dr. Francis Boyle from the University of Illinois on the Prespa Agreement that was signed last year between Greece and Skopje (“FYROM”) and how it violates both the Greek and Skopje constitution and, therefore, should be nullified. (This all has to do with the so-called “Macedonian naming issue”)
John Kountouris
Other e-mail: xirokambi38@yahoo.com
SOURCES:
1 – “A DEATH IN ATHENS: Did a Rogue NSA Operation Cause the Death of a Greek Telecom Employee?” | Source: TheIntercept.com | By: James Bamford | Date/time: September 28 2015, 7:01 p.m. | Link: https://theintercept.com/2015/09/28/death-athens-rogue-nsa-operation/
2 – Greek, hyper-linked sources verifying the coverage of this Karamanlis case by the Greek mainstream media:
http://www.real.gr/DefaultArthro.aspx?page=arthro&id=428448&catID=1&mode=tab
https://www.dimokratianews.gr/content/78417/i-cia-erixe-ton-karamanli
http://egerssi.gr/%CE%BF-%CF%84%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%80%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%83-%CE%B8%CF%8
http://egerssi.gr/%cf%89-%cf%80%cf%85%ce%b8%ce%b9%ce%b1-%ce%b5%cf%83%cf%85-%cf%83%ce%bf%
http://egerssi.gr/%CE%BA%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%B9-%CE%B7-%CF%80%
http://egerssi.gr/%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%B8%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B7-%CF%80%CF%85%CE%B8%CE%B9
https://www.parapolitika.gr/article/xekinai-diki-gia-to-schedio-dolofonias-tou-kosta-karamanli
https://www.paraskhnio.gr/%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%
3 – Source: WikiLeaks.org | Title of memo: AMBASSADOR’S TOUR D’HORIZON WITH GREEK FOREIGN MINISTER MOLYVIATIS | Date/time of memo: 2006 February 9, 12:59 (Thursday) | Link: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06ATHENS373_a.html